Infantino Picnic Play Tummy Time Play Mat

Tummy time for babies is really important for their muscle development. When I went along to my children's centre they stressed the importance of giving my baby some time on her tummy every day. This is to help them build their little muscles up in their necks, arms and shoulders which helps them learn to crawl. It also helps them with their eye movements too as they are in a different position to usual.

Whenever I put my daughter ...
...five seconds before realising she wasn't on her back and she'd start crying. I tried propping a cushion under neath her chest to help raise her a little bit but she somehow would manage to burrow her head into it and then get even more frustrated and distressed.

I bought this picnic play mat as I saw it online and thought it sounded like a good idea seeing as I needed a blanket or a play mat of some form for her now that she is interacting ... more

Tummy time for babies is really important for their muscle development. When I went along to my children's centre they stressed the importance of giving my baby some time on her tummy every day. This is to help them build their little muscles up in their necks, arms and shoulders which helps them learn to crawl. It also helps them with their eye movements too as they are in a different position to usual.

Whenever I put my daughter on the floor on her tummy she'd last for about five seconds before realising she wasn't on her back and she'd start crying. I tried propping a cushion under neath her chest to help raise her a little bit but she somehow would manage to burrow her head into it and then get even more frustrated and distressed.

I bought this picnic play mat as I saw it online and thought it sounded like a good idea seeing as I needed a blanket or a play mat of some form for her now that she is interacting with toys and liked the fact it encouraged tummy time but could also be used as a play mat in general.

It's picnic themed as you can tell by the name and is brightly coloured, and, if you've read any of my previous reviews on children's toys, you will know just how much I like brightly coloured toys for children instead of going for subtle nuetral colours to fit in with home decor.

The play mat is made to look like a picnic rug with red and white squared over the majority of it. Bordering the 'rug' is fuzzy grass-like material made to look like grass. Attached to the top of the play mat are two 'link toys'. (Link toys are basically toys which yuo can disconnect from places such as the pram, car seat etc to take around with you and to stop them being thrown around as they're attached to places). These link toys include two very random items! An ant and an apple juice carton made from plastic! So some very random toys made to tie into the picnic theme! There is a plastic window inside the rug inside of which is water filled and has fruits floating around in it. The main feature of the rug though is the water melon. The water melon is a padded cushion half way up the rug shaped to fit nicely around your baby's chest as they lie on their tummy. It's positioned so that when your baby is leaning against it they are looking at the water filled window and so are encouraged to move their arms around and interact with it thus helping distract from teh fact that they're on their tummies, help them to learn to play in this position and make them realise that it's fun to be on your tummy after all!

It really is a lovely little play mat which is different from others- I mean, who else can say they have a play mat with an ant and an apple juice carton as toys?!

It's great because my daughter will lie on it quite happily messing with the floating fruits for a good 5-10 minutes now with every time she's on it getting gradually longer and her use of her arms getting more advanced every time.

I guess I would criticise it for the fact that it's not as useful as a normal play mat as it has the big watermelon cushion on it so it's not easy to just wrap up and put under the pushchair for going round to someone's house or whatever. It's also only surface washable which isn't ideal for a child's play mat which they'll be rolling all over.

It would be good if the water melon was attached by velcro, I thikn that would improve this product so then my baby would have more room to play when she is on her back with her toys too.

Compared to other play mats this is very reasonable price wise (I bought it for £18) and it's nice to have something different and unisex too. I don't want my house to be full of pink plasticy things just because I have a girl, I do like to have a variety of colours! You can buy it from some toy shops- I got mine from an independent baby store and also online from sites such as Amazon.

It is a nice play mat and does help encourage tummy time. I've definitely noticed a difference with my daughter's willingness to be placed on her tummy when she is on this. Also, I should add, It doesn't contain batteries- always a bonus as far as children's activities are concerned!

I would recommend this product, it does take up room but it can be folded up and put away although, as said previously, it doesn't fold up as small as other play mats.  

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